FORMER HR boss and mother of two Kirsten Oswald, who booted the Scottish Labour leader out of his East Renfrewshire seat with a 4,000 majority, insisted she is more than ready for the Westminster challenge.
Within days of her victory over Jim Murphy – less than a year after joining the SNP – Oswald, 42, was handed a seat on the party’s executive alongside long-serving MP Pete Wishart.
Since last Friday, it has been a rollercoaster ride for Oswald with a host of celebrations before being swept down to London to begin her new job as MP representing the largely affluent middle-class commuter area in the south-west of Glasgow.
Dundee-born Oswald blew Murphy out of the water with 23,013 votes compared to his 19,295 after 18 years in his Labour “safe” seat.
She arrived back from London yesterday but intends to throw herself back into work straight away in her constituency with branch meetings, going through all her emails and setting up an office.
However, she said she will find time to spend with her husband of 13 years, Dav Bedi, 45, a book distributor, and sons Harry, 10, and Tom, seven, before going back to Westminster next week.
When Oswald woke the kids up in the morning after the election to break the news, they got out of bed and began jumping up and down with excitement that their mum was now an MP.
Oswald said: “They were so excited, they were jumping up and down and saying it was great and they were so pleased for me.
“They were really aware of what was going on, they have been involved every step of the way.
“I have spoken to them every day and I can’t wait to see them as I’ve been away all week, but they seem to have survived without me. Dav is doing a brilliant job and has bought a new set of school uniforms for each of them so he doesn’t have to do so much washing.
“He has just totally stepped up to the mark and he is incredibly proud of me. He wasn’t involved in the campaign but he always made sure I was OK and was very supportive of me.”
Oswald had been head of human resources at South Lanarkshire College in East Kilbride for 12 years and she still hasn’t cleared her desk or had a farewell do.
She said her new role will be “really interesting” and it allows her to makes use of my previous HR background. She added: “There’s been no hanging about, it was really great to get a place on the executive.”
She said her focus was fully on the needs of her constituents.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here